Taking on NYC one run at a time

Class crazy & no running but maybe soon?

This week, I don’t know what got into me. I was feeling incredibly sick at the beginning of the week. Despite that I managed to work out every single day. I’ve been looking for a fitness challenge as I still probably can’t run so I working out every day this month would be a good challenge.

Tuesday – 45 mins Barre Burn at EquinoxI love Barre Burn with Aida. She is an amazing instructor and the class is challenging even though I’ve been taking it on and off for a year. It’s low impact so it’s easy on your knees for the most part.

Wednesday – 55 minute Cardio uplift at Uplift in the am, 45 mins Terracycle at Equinox in the evening

I’m so glad I got myself to this morning workout. I haven’t been able to get myself to work out in the morning (before work) since the summer. I always feel better about accomplishing something even before getting to the office. As soon as class was over, I had to go, forgo the shower and get to the office. So happy that Uplift has dry shampoo, face wash, and moisturizer plus everything else a woman might need.

Amazingly, I wasn’t tired when I got to spin class after work. Greg, the instructor, always asks me if this is the hardest I can work. Usually I have a decent enough excuse like this is my 2nd workout of the day. Wednesday was that day.

Sadly I was starving when I left the gym so a trip to Trader Joe’s made this happen below. Don’t worry I didn’t eat everything. I saved most of it for the next day.

Flywheel TriBeCa opened this week and had FREE preview classes. I throughly enjoyed that class. Jamie was amazing. A few weeks ago, I didn’t really enjoy it all that much. At the time, my foot was killing me and I couldn’t do much of the drills and standing on the bike. This time around I was able to do everything. I was literally sweating buckets the whole time. It didn’t feel as hot as SoulCycle but I was still disgusting after class. Thumbs up for free water, bananas, apples and shoes. Plus dry shampoo!

In the evening, I returned. The plan originally was just to take the 7:30pm sculpt fusion class but I had gotten a good chunk of my work done and then some so I signed up for 6:30pm strength too. I’ve never taken a class with Chelsea before but have heard great things from people. Music was great and so was she. Sculpt fusion sounds easy in theory (or maybe compared to their other two signature classes – cardio and strength) but it wasn’t. Some of the moves would have hurt even if I didn’t take 2 classes prior to that. It reminded me of yoga meets pilates meets barre. It’s really a fusion class and much more accessible if you have a bad knee (or foot like me).

Side note: both instructors I had on Thursday both made Racked’s hottest trainer list. I thought that was interesting that 2 new instructors I took on the same day both made that list.

Friday – Podiatrist appointment! & Hour long barre I class at Sapere Studio, BrooklynI was too tired. I slept through my alarm and missed my morning Flywheel class. Their preview classes are going on through the weekend.

I left work early to get to my podiatrist appointment. My foot is getting better. I was hesitant about telling her about all my working out (let’s remember she said, no spinning, no jumping, no running to me 2 weeks ago) but I told her. At this point my left foot just feels weak. She says it’s normal for it to feel weak since I haven’t been using it or putting so much pressure on it. The doctor recommended keeping the ACE wrap on my foot when I workout but can try walking normally without it.

After the appointment, I changed and went to a KM Barre I class at Sapere Studio in East Williamsburg, as it’s part of my Classtivity Passport. It’s a short walk from the Graham Ave. L stop. It’s a super cute studio with a comfy living room and huge couches. It was Friday evening so there was 1 other student taking the class with me. Our instructor, Morgan, was very thorough and awesome. Even though it was a slow moving class, I definitely got a workout from it. I started to feel it in my back halfway through class. She emphasized posture and form and stopped halfway through class and asked us our thoughts and if we really understood what we were doing. I’m very excited to find this studio and that it’s part of Classtivity’s Classpass (which I got for Christmas – but had to suspend because you can only have the passport or classpass not both).

Fish and pork belly – post workout dinner in Willamsburg

Saturday – Shockwave at Equinox

I FINALLY got to try this class. I’ve been a member at Equinox for almost a year but my specific gym doesn’t offer Shockwave, a circuit training class featuring ergs. As someone who has done crew for 7 years, I obviously had to try this class.

There are 8 stations, 2 of which are erg stations, on fancy ergs. I have never used these ergs before and didn’t know how to set them up when I got on but the instructor, John, showed me after I failed to reset it during one station. There was a lot of people in this room and half of them were men, surprising since most classes I’ve taken at every gym has been women. The difference between this class and other circuit classes is that no one in the room is allowed to stop and move on to another station until everyone on the erg is done rowing their assigned piece which ranged from 100 meters to 300 meters. It doesn’t sound like a lot but you sprint through those erg pieces and yes, may lose your breakfast during it (as I was really close to doing so).

Equinox has a lot of amazing classes but I do get bored with my one gym membership (either you have access to one or all of their gyms – I just have the one). I’m excited to visit even more gyms with my ClassPass and have a few more gyms to go on my Passport. I’m still trying to figure out a plan for myself going into the new year and a new training season as the Miami Half is less than 8 weeks away.

Uplift Studios is hosting a New Year’s challenge which looks really awesome but not sure I want to pay so much money when I still have a gym membership (which may be lowered soon due to a family discount or cancelled if I don’t get the discount) and a Classpass (which includes Uplift as one of their studios).

I’m missing running but I’m feeling stronger already. I do love doing a mix of things.

Final question: I have a $50 credit from Gilt City – do I want to apply that to a juice cleanse? or discounted Barry’s Bootcamp classes? I’m between these two since I’d be paying $20 after the credit is applied and didn’t want to pay more than that. Weigh in!